It’s simple, we need more police to stem violence

AT LONG last Home Secretary Sajid Javid has admitted what this newspaper has said all along: that the current epidemic of violent crime on the streets of Britain can be blamed on inadequate police resources. The force’s funding has fallen by 19 per cent in real terms since 2010 and officer numbers have decreased by more than 20,000 over the same period.

In the week after October 31, five people were stabbed to death in London. Since the beginning of the year there have been 119 violent deaths in the capital. And while recorded crime has risen, the number of arrests in England and Wales has halved in the past decade.

Many have criticised the trend for police officers to be tied up with bureaucratic work when they should be out on the streets. It also seems ludicrous for the police to be investigating trifling incidents which they have to log as “hate crimes”. The National Police Chiefs’ Council chair Sara Thornton criticised this recently.

Priorities are important but it is also essential that our police forces are better funded. And it will be interesting to see the results of a survey conducted by Essex Police in which the public were asked if they were willing to pay more in council tax for policing.

As it is, Mr Javid has said that when it comes to a real-terms increase in funding from central government, he has “no magic wand”. We suggest that – to prevent our streets from descending further into anarchy – he’d better find one. And quickly.